The Telepath's Gift
by CynicalMe
Summary: The 9th, Jack and Rose find themselves on a planet where every inhabitant has a special psychic gift, but what seems like a fun adventure quickly turns into somehting far more dangerous, when they learn that someone has been snatching children. Will they solve this mystery or lose one of their own?
1. Chapter 1 - A Good Day

This was definitely a good day.

He had been allowed to leave work early today, so he had enough time for a stride over to the ports.

Two of the four moons of Vysseria could already be seen high up in the late afternoon sky when the main building of the Galactic Spaceport came into view, a pompous dome looming dangerously over the other buildings of the Capital. His father had always told him that the Port was no place for a young boy. Not for one of his status anyway. But Ben had rarely listened to his father's warnings. For him the Spaceport had always been a stunning out of his world place, full of crowds of traders and adventurers, who brought with them the most fascinating gadgets and exotic food, who could tell the most marvellous tales and provided the best of diversions for a city that was so much in need of them.

Aliens were not allowed outside the Port, at least not without a special permit. The Vysseris as a race were a very tight community on a very small planet on the furthest end of their galaxy. As Ben made his way over to the market halls he had to suppress a sigh at the thought. Compared to all that life out there they were so tiny and most important of all a little bit too antiquated. The market hall was a vast room with a high glass ceiling, stacked with tiny and towering market stalls of every colour and form imaginable. An old woman – at least he assumed she was old, since he found it was usually very hard to tell with these cat-people - waved him over to her stall.

"Hello, my love", she purred. "D' you think I could interest you in one of these? Just two and a half Credit each."

Ben's eyes flew over a variety of alien fruit. There were a few he thought he had already seen before, but most of them seemed new to him. The old woman scooped one of them up with her fury hand and held it out to him. It was as big as an apple but had a shining deep purple skin.

"Matches the colour of your eyes", she said with a warm smile that showed her pointed cat-teeth.

Ben grinned and fished some money out of his pocket.

"Keep the change", he said and took the fruit from her hands.

Then as he strolled away he took a huge bite of it. It tasted great, very sweet and a little bit tart. He gave a pleased smile.

It was almost dark when Ben left the Spaceport. The four moons stood high in the sky and cast a soothing silvery light over the city, worn out from a hard day's work. He hurried through the streets. Unless he wanted his parents to worry he had to make it home in time for dinner. He rounded a corner, and rushed through a couple of backstreets, one of the nifty little shortcuts he had discovered years ago.

Then, suddenly he was stopped by someone calling out.

"Excuse me, boy!" a voice said.

Ben turned and noticed a young bespectacled man standing in an alley to the left.

"Sorry, but I'm kinda in a hurry here." Ben had always had a hard time suppressing his curiosity. But today it was probably best to just go home. Then again: "Can I help you with something?"

The man with the glasses nodded eagerly and held up a holomap of the city.

"Oh, yes, please." he said. "I'm new in town and I wanted to go to the city hall, but I think I got lost."

Ben smiled and took a few steps towards the man. Now that he was closer, he noticed something odd about the stranger. But before he even got to think about it properly, a shadow appeared from behind him and big hands clamped over his mouth.

He desperately tried to struggle and scream for help, but it was no use. The hands holding him were too strong. The strange man with the glasses approached him, a syringe in his bony hand.

"Now", he hissed in the most alarming of tones. "This won't hurt a bit."

A sharp pain in his neck and suddenly the world turned as Ben fell limply to the ground.

Then, there was only darkness.


	2. Chapter 2 - Dull Places

"So, what's out there then?" Rose asked.

"No idea", the Doctor said with a shrug. He nudged Jack away from the TARDIS' consoles to take a look at the scanner.

"You wanted a random planet. Somewhere even I haven't been to before-"

"Yeah", Jack cut in. "More fun that way, Mister Rough-Guide-To-Every-Galaxy."

The Doctor shot him an irritated look and Jack flashed a bright, teasing smile and winked in Rose's direction.

It was true. Rose had indeed pointed out that it was somewhat unfair that the Doctor always knew a lot more about the places they were visiting.

"Anyway", the Doctor sighed, brushing a hand through his close-cropped hair. "We're on a little planet called Vysseria, some billion light years away from home. Rather nice climate, 26 hour day… Oh, and only one species registered as current inhabitants: The Vysseris…"

"And you've never been here before?" Rose asked. "Ever?"

"Never ever" the Doctor assured her. "Which probably means it's an extremely dull place to be… But since you two were so bent on coming here…"

"Oh, our every wish is your command then?" Jack grinned.

The Doctor gave a cheeky smile in reply. "Oh, you'd like that, wouldn't you?"

Before Jack could think of a flirty answer, Rose grabbed her two boys by the hands and dragged them along towards the TARDIS doors.

"Stop mucking about, all right! I wanna see what's out there! "

* * *

The TARDIS had landed in a gloomy little backstreet but after rounding a bunch of corners they found themselves at a wide square right at the heart of a big, busy city. It was a rather chilly afternoon and raining, too. Rose shivered a little in her hoodie. Not so different from home, then.

She loved it nonetheless. Strange air in her lungs. A different sky. Her movements seemed slower, harder than back home. She felt heavier. She asked the Doctor about it and he explained that there was probably higher gravity on this planet than on Earth.

As far as Rose could see the city consisted mainly of grey square buildings of concrete and dark stained glass. On the far left a big silvery dome-like building stood out of its surroundings and Rose could see spaceships flying overhead.

"What's the date then?" Rose asked still taking in their surroundings.

The Doctor tipped his head to one side and frowned for a moment, then he said:

"Late 61st century by the looks of it."

But Rose had noticed a hint of concern in his eyes.

"What is it?" she wanted to know.

The Doctor just shrugged.

"Over there! Let's find out what this place has to offer!" Jack called and led the way to a glowing terminal set in one of the walls. The very second he stood in front of it the screen fizzled and crackled and then bright blue letters appeared in front of them:

THIS IS INFORMATION TERMINAL 00143. PLEASE STATE YOUR REQUEST.

"Well", Jack said with his best smile. "This might seem like a slightly stupid question… But where exactly are we? What's this city called? Name's Captain Jack Harkness, by the way."

Rose shook her head at him and looked to the Doctor. "That'll be him flirting with a machine."

"Well, you never know. Especially this far in the future… Some of them might actually be sentient." Jack defended himself as new words appeared on the screen.

YOU ARE IN THE CAPITAL, THIS PLANET'S CAPITAL.

"Oh, the Capital, very imaginative!" the Doctor chuckled. "So, what's going on around here?"

The screen flickered and a bunch of facts and figures appeared. The Doctor and

Jack leaned in to get a closer look. Bored, Rose stepped aside to take a look at the people passing by.

At first sight they looked just like the people back on Earth but Rose soon noticed something strange about their eyes. There were people with ordinary blue or green or brown eyes, all right, but some had red or purple coloured ones. She even spotted a young woman with eyes as golden as the sun and an old man who had eyes of a ghostly bluish white. The second thing she noticed was that everyone was sporting a facial tattoo. Matching the eye colour, she realized. The tattoo consisted of four circles arranged in some kind of semicircle down the cheek. The top circle was the biggest and they got smaller step by step to the one at the bottom.

Was that some kind of 61st century fashion?

She frowned and turned back to the terminal. The Doctor and Jack, blocking her way, were arguing very loudly about the question where to go next and if it was worth staying on the planet. With an annoyed sigh she slipped past them and stood in front of the screen.

"What's up with the funny tattoos?" she asked the computer.

The Doctor and Jack immediately stopped fighting and looked round, puzzled, trying to see what their friend was talking about. Then they turned back and looked over Rose's shoulder as the answer appeared on the terminal's screen.

THE SACRED MARKINGS ARE A TRADITION AMONGST THE VYSSERIS. THEY DECPICT THE FOUR MOONS OF VYSSERIA IN PERFECT ALIGNMENT, WHICH CAN ONLY BE WITTNESSED EVERY FOURHUNDRET YEARS. CHILDREN OF VYSSERIA RECEIVE THE FIRST PART OF THE MARKING AT THE AGE OF FOUR, THEN EVERY FOUR YEARS ANOTHER CIRCLE IS ADDED. UPON RECEIVING THE LAST PART OF THE MARKING VYSSERIS CHILDREN ARE HENCEFORTH CONSIDERED ADULTS. THIS TRADITION CAN BE TRACKED BACK THOUSANDS OF YEARS. FIRST DEPICTIONS OF THE SACRED MARKINGS CAN BE FOUND IN THE OLD TEMPLE RUINS OUTISDE THE CAPITAL WALLS.

Photos of the ruins, excavation sites, ancient mural paintings and lost treasures appeared right underneath the text and the Doctor's face lit up instantly.

"Fantastic!" he called.

Jack just gave an adventurous grin.

One look into her boys' eyes was enough for Rose see that it was already decided:

"The ruins it is, then!" she smiled.

* * *

Quite a few blocks away, in the main room of a big square building, a man named Clovaar Stern was pacing eagerly up and down the lines of desks. An alarm was sounding softly through the room and a dozen men and women were staring nervously at their computer screens, hammering frantically onto their keyboards.

Stern came to a halt in the middle of the room, his cold grey eyes slowly and gravely surveying every single member of his staff.

"Well?" he asked irritably.

A young man stood up, eyes still fixed on his screen.

"The alarm's coming from an information terminal near the Great Square. It reports questions that could only have been asked by off-worlders." he said.

"But there's no record of aliens allowed into the city for today, Sir."

"Can we access the terminal's visual files?" Stern asked. He stepped closer to peer over the young man's shoulder.

The young man nodded and typed something into his computer. A video appeared on the screen. He played it and then pressed pause as a girl and two men appeared in front of them. None of them had the Markings.

Stern took a deep breath and then turned to address the entire room.

"I want those three under surveillance! Trace their every step! Use every camera available and don't lose them until one of our people can get to the scene!" he said firmly.

The young man from before cleared his throat and spoke up:

"Tommen just reported that he's merely a few streets away, Sir. He'd be there in less than five minutes."

"Good", said Stern. "Tell him to bring them in. If they resist he knows what to do."

Tommen Drea was a tall, skinny young man whose dark grey uniform seemed much too small for him. The jacket seemed way too tight and the trousers didn't quite reach down to his ankles.

But Rose, taking in his soft features, curly ginger hair and shining cyan eyes, definitely had to admit that he was rather handsome.

Tommen had halted them shortly after they had taken off to see the ruins. He had flicked them a badge that identified him as police.

"I'm sorry", he said. "I just need to see your identification. And your permit to enter the city."

Tommen seemed a little intimidated by the Doctor and Jack who had straightened up to their full height in front of him. For just a little moment his hand twitched in the direction of the gun he wore attached to his belt.

Alarmed Rose stepped forth giving him her best smile.

"All right, erm, Officer…" She softly nudged the Doctor's shoulder.

"Go on, just show him our identification, yeah."

But the Doctor must have seen the young man's stir too, for he was already reaching inside his jacket pocket to produce the wallet that Rose knew contained the psychic paper. He held it up for Tommen to see.

"Here you go."

The policeman stared at it with a frown for a few seconds, produced a scanner from his belt and held it against the paper. A green light blinked and Tommen nodded in approval.

"Seems to be quite all right", he said, not without a hint of puzzlement in his voice. "Must've fallen off the record…"

"Computer glitch", sighed Jack with a smile. "Don't worry, happens all the time."

Rose and the Doctor smiled at him, too.

Tommen nodded.

"Yeah… Anyway… I must apologise for the inconvenience, but, you see, one can't be careful enough these days… with the children disappearing, and all that… Even Ambrose's' boy…"

"Children disappearing?" the Doctor repeated, all of a sudden very serious.

For a moment Tommen looked like a rabbit caught in headlights. Then he managed a reassuring smile.

"Ah", he breathed. "Nothing to worry about, really. You just enjoy your stay here in the Capital, yeah?"

With this and a little wave the policeman began to walk off as fast as he could.

Fleeing the scene, Rose thought.

The Doctor peered after him for quite some time. He looked troubled.

"What is it, Doctor?" Jack asked.

"I noticed it before, when we were on that square." the Doctor answered.

"I just dismissed it… Of all the people we passed on the way… How many do you think were children?"

Rose frowned. Now that she thought about it she couldn't remember seeing just one kid.

"Maybe it's a school day?" she suggested.

"Doubt it", the Doctor said. "Late afternoon."

"Could someone kidnap the children of an entire city?" asked Jack.

"Nah." The Doctor shook his head. "They're probably just too scared to go outside."

They stood there in silence for a few seconds.

"That Tommen Drea said something about someone called Ambrose…" Jack murmured. "Maybe we should find out who that is?"

The Doctor agreed and they headed off to find another information terminal.


	3. Chapter 3 - A Little Rain Must Fall

_**Hi, guys. First of all, thanks for the nice reviews. I'm very glad you enjoy it so far.**_

_**And no, this isn't my first story, really. But everything up until now I was written in my first language, I've only recently started doing that in English. It's also my first Doctor Who Fanfic, I usually prefer writing my own stuff, bit this fandom is just too gorgeous. **_

_**Anyway, thanks again and enjoy this next chapter:**_

* * *

The Doctor, Rose and Jack didn't have any problem finding out who the ominous person called Ambrose was.

It turned out Tarrik Ambrose owned half of the city. He was by far the planet's most popular businessman. Eighty years ago his family had led the Vysseris out into the stars by establishing the first off-world trading contract. Soon the Ambroses were fully invested in cargo and anything that went into or out of Vyseria's spaceports. Tarrik had later expanded his father's and grandfather's business by selling Levitium, a precious metal that could only be found on Vysseria, to loads of interested parties, including several weapons manufacturers. The Doctow hadn't liked that very much.

* * *

"There it is!" Rose shouted and pointed out a tall glass building sporting the logo of Ambrose's company.

"Well spotted", Jack commended and gave her a pat on the head that made her feel like a dog that had just obediently fetched him a stick.

She gave him a growl which turned into a laugh halfway through. He grinned and then turned to follow the Doctor who was already striding straightaway towards the Ambrose Corporations' big building.

"So, what's the plan?" Jack asked him. "I mean, this lot… they don't like strangers, do they?"

"Oh, they'll like us, don't worry." The Doctor smiled producing the psychic paper from his jacket.

The foyer of Ambrose Corporations was a square room with two glass elevators going all the way up to the building's top at the one end a bunch of grave-looking reception staff behind counter at the other end. In the middle of the room was a beautifully colourful artificial garden.

Rose was instantly drawn to the strangely shaped flowers that glowed and pulsed in vibrant colours, while the Doctor and Jack headed straight into the direction of reception desks.

Rose leaned forward to give a one of the flowers a sniff, when she suddenly jumped in surprise as a head popped up from behind a bush.

"Blimey!" she breathed realizing that it was just a little girl. "You scared the living daylights out of me there!"

"Sorry." The girl smiled apologetically.

Rose regarded her with a critical glimpse. Then she smiled back. This was just a little girl not one of the vicious, malevolent aliens she had come to instinctively expect travelling the stars alongside the Doctor.

"It's okay. I'm Rose. What's your name?" she inquired. The girl had beautiful blonde curls and sparkling lilac eyes. There were two matching lilac circles tattooed on her left cheek meaning that she was at least eight years old.

"Jana", the girl answered. "Jana Ambrose."

Rose's ears pricked up. "You're not related to Tarrik Ambrose by any chance?"

The girl nodded. "He's my dad. Why do you want to know? Are you here because of my brother?" She glanced over to where the Doctor and Jack were talking to one of the receptionists.

"Your brother, is he one of the missing children?" assumed Rose.

Jana nodded again, her lips quivering. And that was when Rose became aware of how very frightened this little girl was.

"Tell you what…" she smiled and leaned down to look into her eyes. "See those two men over there?" She pointed towards Jack and the Doctor.

"They're with me, right, and together we're like super-duper outer-space detectives. We've been to all sorts of places and everywhere we went we solved mysteries and helped people. I'm sure we'll be able to help find your brother, too."

For a moment there was doubt in Jana's eyes but then she nodded, slowly and severely. "I believe you."

"Good", said Rose. "But we can only help if we know as much as possible about this, okay?"

"You'll want to talk to my Daddy then." Jana said. "And my brother Rostak. He's working here, too. I can show you to his room."

"That'd be great."

The Doctor, Jack in tow, had chosen this very moment to stride back to join her.

"All settled. They'll let us up to talk to the big boss" explained Jack and gave her a thumbs-up. Then he turned to face Jana. "Now, who's this little beauty?" he asked with a grin extending his hand to shake hers.

"This is Jana Ambrose" said Rose. "And these are my friends, Jack and the Doctor."

The girl shook their hands, her bright eyes shining with curiosity.

"So you're from another planet?" she mused. "So cool."

"It truly is" the Doctor chuckled and bent down to ruffle the girl's hair.

Soon after the introductions they decided to split up.

Jana would take Rose and Jack to the third floor to see her brother Rostak and the Doctor would go to the top of the building to talk to her father.

Rose watched and waved a little goodbye as the Doctor stepped into the glass elevator. She saw him mouth "See you later" and then he was out of sight.

* * *

As the Doctor stepped out of the elevator he was greeted with a very critical look from a seemingly very busy, serious-looking secretary. Her office was grey and stacked with cabinets crammed with hundreds of files and reports, the very same files that flooded the secretary's desk, almost completely hiding her behind them.

He gave her a friendly smile, which usually worked to cheer up anyone. The secretary however seemed unimpressed.

"This door, please" she said grimly. "He's expecting you".

"Thanks" he mumbled trying not to sound too disappointed.

* * *

Rostak had blonde hair just like his little sister, although he kept it short and strict. He was not very tall for a 20-year-old bloke, Rose realized as he stood up from behind his desk to greet them, but muscular and broad-shouldered.

His pale-blue eyes regarded them with a mistrustful look, which turned into a smile as soon as he saw Jana. The little girl quickly explained who they were and before long he was explaining what had happened the day his brother disappeared.

"It's customary that boys his age take on an afternoon job after school.

That's where he was supposed to be that day. The police found out, that he was allowed to leave early, so he was probably wandering around town when he was kidnapped. He liked to take strolls to the spaceport and markets in town. Our father never appreciated that, though."

Rose was placed on a chair in front of Rostak's desk and watched the blonde man carefully. He seemed very calm about his brother's disappearance. Jack stood behind her, arms crossed in front of his chest, casually leaning against a wall.

"They've looked everywhere" Rostak continued. "They suspect that the kidnappers are off-worlders and that their hideout is most likely not in the city."

"Any idea why they're taking the children?" Jack wanted to know.

"Because of the Gift, of course."

"What's the Gift?" Jack asked with a frown.

* * *

"The Gift" began Tarik Ambrose, a grey-haired man in his early fifties, "is what makes our race superior to other races."

The Doctor frowned. Superior. He didn't like that word very much. And he didn't trust Tarik Ambrose. The man had told him everything about his son's disappearance, the police investigation and the other missing children. All of this without any sign of emotion. Any normal person would never tell something like that to a complete stranger, the Doctor thought. There was something in the man's pale-blue eyes that made him suspicious of this whole situation.

"Every one of us possesses a unique psychic ability" Tarik proceeded. "Some can tell the truth from a lie. Some can look into other people's past or read their minds. Some can even tell the future. On our planet there are laws against using it for one's own good or for harming other creatures, but you can surely understand how such a power can appeal to someone with a criminal nature."

The Doctor swallowed. Suddenly he found himself wondering how many people had caught a glance into his own mind since they'd landed.

"I'd like to hear a little more about this Gift of yours and maybe about what you think it could be used for" he said.

* * *

As Jack and Rose left Rostak's office they once again promised Jana they'd try and find her brother. Then they went down to the foyer to meet up with the Doctor. But when they arrived he was not there yet and didn't show even after they had waited for a while longer.

"What do you say? Wanna check out that spaceport Rostak was talking about?" Jack proposed after another few minutes. "When investigating a crime, it's always a good start to trace back the victim's steps."

Rose considered this. The Doctor wouldn't mind, surely.

The two of them stepped out of the building and into a pouring rain.

"That might not have been such a good idea after all" Rose stated and pulled her hoodie up over her head. "We'll be soaked before we can even get close to that port."

Jack, who was wearing a jacket that was much more suited for the weather, just smiled at her and gestured in the direction of a huge dome-like structure to their left. "That's the port. You can't miss it, can you?"

Rose frowned. "Why would I miss it?" she asked.

"Because…" Jack grinned and tapped a finger on the tip of her nose, "You, little lady, should go back to the TARDIS and get yourself a nice waterproof jacket. I think I saw a cute pink umbrella somewhere in the depths of the dressing room, too."

Rose scowled at him. Then, with a "Whatever!"-snort she started to head off towards where they had parked the TARDIS. "This conversation is far from over,

Captain Jack Harkness!" she warned but the captain just chuckled and headed away in the opposite direction.

* * *

Tommen Drea watched from the shadows as the dark-haired man and the blonde girl parted ways at the doors of the Ambrose Corporations building. Thanks to his special gift he had seen through the little trick with the psychic paper right away. But he thought it wiser to consult with his boss first, after all not all tourists usually packed stuff like that. Stern had told him to follow the off-worlders, to monitor their every move and to report any suspicious behaviour.

Now he felt uncertain whether to follow the man or the girl. He watched for a little longer and then decided to just follow his gut, screw the consequences.

* * *

Shortly afterwards Rose closed the TARDIS' doors behind her, now armed against the rain with a bright yellow rain jacket. She had found the pink umbrella Jack had been talking about but refused to take it since the brightness of the jacket already made her stick out from the rest of the people in their dark clothes and their grey city.

She'd just started towards the looming figure of the spaceport, when suddenly, she heard a strangled cry of fear and seconds later she found herself running towards it. She hurried through several alleys, took a left and then crashed into something very hard and very huge.

She tumbled backwards and landed painfully on her bum. Only then did she realize that she'd crashed into a man. A bear of a man! He was at least seven feet tall and half as broad.

And behind the giant was another man, kneeling on the wet pavement. He was tall and lean. His hair was jet-black and a pair of shining round glasses hid his eyes. In his bony arms rested the body of a young boy. An empty syringe lay on the ground beside him.

Before Rose could say something or move, the lean man yelled "Get her!" and the giant was bending down to grab her.

Instinctively she brought her feet up and in front of her and kicked as hard as she could. The man stumbled for a moment but then simply reached for her ankle and swiped her feet up into the air. The next second she found herself dangling head-down in mid-air. "No, stop it!" she cried flailing and kicking around, struggling to get free.

"No, you stop it! I'm gonna let you fall" the giant grumbled.

"Fine with me!" Rose yelled and punched him where she thought it might hurt the most.

The giant let go and she hit the pavement with a painful thump. Then as fast as she could she scrambled to her feet. She had to get the hell out of there!

"Don't let her get away!" she heard the skinny man yell, but she was already halfway down the alley. When she just thought she'd made it something hard hit her sharply in the back and she lost her balance. She tumbled to the ground and hit her head on something hard.

The world went black from one split second to the other.


End file.
